- Opening Date: The Empire State Building was officially opened on May 1, 1931.
- Construction Time: It took just over a year (410 days, to be exact) to build the Empire State Building.
- Record-Breaking Height: When it was completed, it was the tallest building in the world, standing at 1,454 feet (including its antenna), a record it held for nearly 40 years.
- Quick Elevators: The Empire State Building’s elevators travel at speeds of up to 1,000 feet per minute.
- Observatories: The building has two observatories: one on the 86th floor and one on the 102nd floor, offering stunning views of New York City.
- Lights Show: The top of the building is lit up with different colors to celebrate various occasions and holidays.
- King Kong: The building has been featured in numerous films, perhaps most famously in “King Kong” in 1933.
- Crash Site: In 1945, a B-25 bomber crashed into the Empire State Building due to heavy fog, hitting the 79th floor.
- Renovation: A $550 million renovation was completed in 2011 to make the building more eco-friendly.
- Offices: The Empire State Building has 102 floors and contains over 2.8 million square feet of office space.
- Lightning Rod: The Empire State Building acts as a lightning rod and is struck by lightning around 23 times a year on average.
- Radio and TV Signals: The antenna atop the building broadcasts most of the television and radio signals for New York City.
- Replicas: There’s a half-scale replica of the Empire State Building in Japan at the Toei Uzumasa Eigamura (Kyoto Studio Park).
- Bankruptcy: Despite its iconic status, the building was not profitable until the 1950s and in fact, stood largely vacant for its first few years.
- Elevator Miles: The Empire State Building’s 73 elevators collectively travel up to a thousand miles (1,600 kilometers) a day.
- Construction Workers: Approximately 3,400 workers were involved in the building’s construction. Remarkably, only five workers died during the construction, relatively low for a project of this scale in that era.
- Materials: The building was constructed with approximately 60,000 tons of steel, 200,000 cubic feet of limestone and granite, and 10 million bricks.
- Steps: There are 1,860 steps from the ground floor to the 102nd floor.
- Art Deco Style: The building is designed in the Art Deco style, a popular architectural style in the 1920s and 1930s.
- Annual Race: Every year, an invitation-only race is held where runners climb the 1,576 stairs (86 floors) from the lobby to the observatory.
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